


electric summer

by aquathenmarine



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Fantasy, M/M, Royalty, Steampunk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-17
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2018-12-03 09:38:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11529573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aquathenmarine/pseuds/aquathenmarine
Summary: Prince Kai knows a little something about magic, and Prince Lu Han finds that he's willing to do anything to find out what.





	electric summer

**Author's Note:**

> I'm importing all my past works onto ao3 for archiving purposes. This was originally posted around September 2014.

Prince Lu Han glides up the short steps to the platform at the far end of the ballroom to shake Prince Kai’s awaiting hand. Men and women in expensive dresses and high-ranking uniforms sit next to Prince Kai’s throne, the ending trills of their laughs echoing as they disappear upon Lu Han’s arrival. They scrutinise the newcomer, but only briefly before standing up with Prince Kai from their seats on the large ottoman to greet the heir of the kingdom with polite nods and deep bows. Lu Han ignores them all, eyes narrowing down to meet Kai’s.

“I do not want to marry you,” Lu Han says. He drops Kai’s hand.

“I’m not sure that is entirely believable your highness, given that there is only one purpose in us all being here tonight,” Kai says through a smirk, and as if on cue, his posse laugh with him. But only lightly, and with good nature. No one is stupid enough to seriously insult the Prince of the Kingdom, no matter if it defied their own Turmeric Prince, Kai, who is only from a small island off the mainland and rather insignificant beside Lu Han.

Except for the part of him that is not insignificant at all. The part of him that is the reason royals and nobles from all over the world were present in his castle that night. But if Kai thinks that part is enough to impress Lu Han, then he is strongly mistaken.

But Lu Han simply ignores him. “I am not here for the same reasons as everyone else,” he starts again. “There is a matter of utmost importance I must discuss with you. If you would do me the honour of providing us a place to convene in privacy, I would be much obliged.”

Lu Han notices the swift lift of the Turmeric prince’s brows, but it disappears again behind that smirk.

“Oh, so his highness wants to get me alone, now, does he?” The other guests laugh behind their champagne glasses. “I think that defeats the whole purpose of inviting everyone, don’t you? If I dare to say so, your highness, that is rather greedy of you, isn’t it?” More laughter.

Lu Han blinks away the slight redness in his vision as he glares at Prince Kai, who sits there—the only one to have sat straight back down after greeting him—with his lush dark locks pushed back into a pristine coif, and the lapels of his unbuttoned collar framing his sharp jaw which is still relaxed into a smirk. It is Lu Han’s years of disciplinary training that stops him from raising a hand. Not that he has the strength to seriously hurt anyone—a thought he is constantly reminded of by his parents and teachers. There is never a moment that Lu Han is allowed to forget his shortcomings when compared to his older brothers.

“I think you mistaken me for another common prince such as yourself,” Lu Han replies with not a single inflection in his tone. The atmosphere in their little bubble at the platform seems to drop down a few degrees. He takes another step towards the seated prince, and leans down so their eyes are level, hand resting on the arm of the chair. Lu Han does not anticipate how steadily Kai meets his own. “Last Mage of Turmeric or not, you are nothing compared to me,” Lu Han whispers with a surge of confidence he rarely finds. Kai does not drop the smirk, but his eyes do harden as they gaze straight back at Lu Han. “You do not question my motives or dictate to me what I do or do not mean. I’m the future king of the Kingdom and you are a mere peasant compared to the likes of me. When I ask you to do something, you fall to your knees and do it.” Kai swallows and licks his lips, which does not go unnoticed by Lu Han. If Lu Han were to know any better, he would say that Kai looked…well, no. Lu Han shakes the thought from his head. Best not to dwell on things like that.

“Sincerest apologies, your highness,” Kai replies for only Lu Han’s ears to hear. He drops his gaze only for a moment to Lu Han’s lips, and then he stands up the second their eyes meet again.

Lu Han immediately takes a step back in his surprise at the proximity, but Kai does not seem to think anything of it. He swallows the last of his champagne without looking away once from Lu Han, and places it somewhere to the side before turning to leave. “Right this way, your highness.” Lu Han chooses to ignore the curious gazes of the onlookers as he follows Prince Kai through the door at the far wall of the platform.

 

 

Everything that Lu Han wants to say flies past him like a steam train as he traces Kai’s steps down a red carpeted hall. The Turmeric castle is nowhere near as grandiose as the Kingdom’s, but it still holds its own with its intricately painted ceilings and murals of local life that adorn the inner walls and surround the chandeliers. He thinks of the past ten or so years that have passed since the last time he had seen Kai, seen what he had done.

They weren’t friends. They hardly knew each other. Whilst they were in the same social circle, Lu Han scarcely ever left his room—let alone the castle—if he could help it to even be all that aware of who was in that circle.

Regardless, they were practically strangers to each other. It was that brief glance of Kai that Lu Han remembers now, where the dark-haired prince had been humming softly to himself in a hallway similar to this one, but in another part of the Turmeric castle, and Lu Had been following him, just as he was now, because he was shy, and here was someone his age that was sort of quiet too, and if he could just build up the courage maybe they could even be friends—but then Kai had disappeared.

Into thin air. Gone. Not a trace left behind. Gone.

And when he had told his parents about it, in front of all of the guests at the dinner that night, there was fear in their eyes. But not for Kai.

They wouldn’t let him attend many social gatherings after that. Rumours flew around the sphere and the king and queen shot them down without grace until they were all silenced. But there was still distrust in their eyes. Distrust in Lu Han, the heir of the throne. Clearly the poor boy had gone mad.

But even if everyone else thought him insane, Lu Han knew what he saw. And he had wanted to figure it out. It wasn’t common in the culture of those in the Kingdom to act so seriously, and they certainly did not care for his intellectual talents. Where in his world they praised only the strong and the brave, there was never any space in their praises for education or learning. Everyone was rich and happy in the Kingdom anyway, under King Suho’s reign. There was no need for frivolous nonsense. There was only one library, and that would have been covered in dust had Lu Han not set up his second home in there, and eventually had all the books transported into a private room in the castle, since none of the locals were using it anyway.

Lu Han had dedicated himself to finding out Kai’s secrets. He was never allowed to see his peers, especially Kai, but that would not stop him from trying to learn.

It was only now, at eighteen years of age, that Lu Han was able to escape the castle and attend the Annual Grand Turmeric Summer Ball, this year held at the Duchess of Turmeric’s request in her son’s name, so that he might find a suitor and marry.

Of course, everyone attended. Not only was he one of the prettiest faces in the Kingdom, there was also the matter of his special abilities. They had discovered them from a young age—his ability to control elements just enough to pass as an entertaining party trick, though nothing more. Prince Kai was the only known mage of the Kingdom, thus being given his name as the Last. But it was nothing more than a flickering of fire here, or a finger-light there. Nothing like disappearing. That was outside the realm of magic, as everyone knew, and dwelled on something close to dark sorcery. That Lu Han had suggested it of someone with such weak abilities, and at such a young age, had been the cause for scorn and fury. Many brushed it off as jealousy, but then there were those that remembered the fervour with which he had accused Kai as a child, the crazed look in his eyes at seeing the impossible.

Of course, the only blasphemy that could be accurately accused of Lu Han is that he hates everyone in the Kingdom. He could say the very words out loud and there would still be laughs in response at his youth and endearment.

But he was eighteen now, an adult. And it was time for him to marry as well. There would be many young women at the ball, and since only one would be the lucky Princess of Turmeric, that left a lot of noble suitors that Lu Han could choose from. And so his parents allowed him to attend.  
And Lu Han did not waste time.

Now here they are, walking along the corridor, and Lu Han wonders when it will end, and why they are going so far away. There is a strange stutter in his heartbeat, of anticipation and something else, something that had started when Kai had glanced down at his lips and then pierced into his eyes again. It was the drag of the look. The way they scrutinised every inch of his face from lip to lash, and there goes his heart again. He isn’t an idiot—he knows what he’s feeling. It’s wholly inappropriate, especially considering how long he has waited for this opportunity. Over an entire decade. And if he were to ruin it now with his sudden and flighty lust, well, that would just be a spectacle of a train wreck.

Lu Han ignores the tiny voice in his head that says, well, it was honestly Kai that looked lustful rather than me, but it is a split second thought and the only acknowledgment he gives it is a harsh swallow as Kai finally slows down at the very end of the corridor, at a large oak door.

He pushes it open without a glance, and it is dark inside. Lu Han walks in, and is suddenly plunged into light as the oil lights in the wall brackets along the entire perimeter of the room light up. He suppresses an eye roll. Show off.

Kai closes the door quietly with another signature smirk, and stands before Lu Han, an arm resting on the door behind Lu Han’s head. Lu Han imagines himself bracketed in against the wall just like the oil lamps, but at least Kai still leaves one side free as he peers at the heir with curiosity.

Lu Han’s heart beats faster still. It has been a long time since he has been this close to anyone, and then there’s the other anticipation of the confrontation he has been fantasising about for the past ten years that is slowly tearing his insides apart too.

“Yes, my prince?” Kai asks, voice barely interrupting the silence around them.

Lu Han pauses a moment before answering, trying to catch his breath from the walking and the nerves.

“I-I,” Lu Han has no idea how to possibly express what he wants to say. He has imagined this scenario so many times before, wanting it to go perfectly when, if, it finally happened, but now that it is, he finds he cannot remember a thing of coherence. This proximity between them was certainly not featured in any of his fantasy confrontations. He goes with his gut instead, dropping all manner of eloquence.

“I saw you disappear,” Lu Han finally whispers, and Kai’s eyes widen, but no answer. “Over ten years ago,” he continues. “We were children, and I followed you because I wanted to play and make friends, though I was shy. And then you disappeared out of nowhere.” Kai’s eyes read as unbelieving. Like he doesn’t believe a word that Lu Han is saying, but Lu Han does not stop. He suspects that Kai would put up a pretence, considering what it would mean if there was a magic user in the kingdom that could do more than he let on, especially to its heir. “You didn’t see me, because I was following and watching you from afar. But I know what I saw. And ever since then I’ve been trying to find a way to do what you did, or to do something similar. I couldn’t get the image of you simply falling into thin air from my mind, and I’ve been studying and researching science and religion and philosophy so much, as much as I can, and it’s my life’s work to figure out how to travel through time and space—you inspired me to find out about simply transporting from one place to another, but you see then I built a machine, and now there may be more that is possible—because there has to be a way to replicate magic, because mages cannot do what you did, so it must be something else, something new worth learning about, and I’m so close to figuring it out and just wanted to ask you—“ Lu Han knows he’s babbling but once he starts he cannot stop. He hasn’t voiced these thoughts out loud to anyone before, and here was the only person that had a chance of understanding his study. The only person that could help him.

Until he slams Lu Han’s shoulder back against the wall and growls, “Enough.”

Lu Han shuts up, and stares with wide eyes. Kai looks shocked. Lu Han wants to say something, but instead he bites his lip and waits for Kai to respond.

Finally, after long, breathless moments where Lu Han is sure his heart will leap out of his chest unless Kai just stops staring, the Turmeric prince speaks up in another whisper. “What did you see?”

Lu Han blinks. “Nothing,” he says. “You were there, and then you looked around, and then you touched your arm lightly and then you were gone. I didn’t blink the whole time. I saw you the moment you disappeared.” The talking makes Lu Han’s mouth drier than it already is, and he is sure that Kai can feel his racing heartbeat through his shirt where he grasps it by the shoulder.

“And what do you want?” Kai asks. “My help? For your… research?”

“Yes,” Lu Han says simply. He gulps as he feels Kai’s hold on his shoulder begin to loosen, though he keeps his hand where it is.

“Or what?”

Lu Han blanches. “Beg your pardon?”

Kai rakes his nails ever so slightly over his shoulder, and it tickles Lu Han through his shirt. He suppresses a shiver. “Or. What,” Kai says through gritted teeth. “What will you do if I don’t help you? Why should I help you?”

Lu Han is completely frozen. He had never considered that Kai would want something in return for helping. And why should he have? He was the Prince for God’s sake. As was Kai, but Kai was no heir to the throne of the Kingdom like Lu Han was. He simply would rule over the affairs of the small island of Turmeric, owned by the Duke and Duchess, his parents. The island had been a gift from Lu Han’s parents to Kai’s many, many years ago before either of their births. That Kai would speak so brashly to Lu Han was outrageous.  
It meant that Lu Han did not have Kai’s respect, even as the future king. Kai was looking at him like everyone else secretly did.

The rage follows as it usually does when Lu Han realises how someone from the outside views him, and it hits him hard enough that he slaps Kai’s hand away from his shoulder.

“You dare speak to me that way, Prince Kai,” Lu Han spits out, voice still strangely quiet. Kai looks unsettled but still firm. “I could ruin you with this information. You may think that I am powerless now, but no matter how many years it takes until I ascend the throne, when I am finally in power, I could end you. I suggest that you do not get on my bad side.”

Kai tilts his chin up slightly as he regards him. “You say that with much confidence for a mere human that does not know my full capabilities. Who says that I’ll let you live that long? I don’t think you are in the position to be making threats, your highness. If it’s my help you want, you may merely ask, and then we can fall into negotiations.”

Lu Han ignores the rest so he can focus on his task instead. He will not let Kai win. “What do you want?” It can’t be money, Lu Han thinks. The room around them with the gold and glittering chandeliers, velvet covered walls and thick bedclothes clearly shows that money is the last thing that the Turmeric prince would want.

“You,” Kai says. Lu Han gasps. His heartbeat is ever faster, but it does not stop the outrage from within.

“I beg your pardon? What could you possibly want with me?” Lu Han purposefully phrases it so that Kai can find a way out from what Lu Han suspects his original meaning was.

But Kai is not smiling. He still looks straight into Lu Han’s eyes, which are widened like a deer’s caught in the headlights of an automobile. “There is nothing funny or simple about what you think you want to get into, your highness. I refuse to trust you with my secrets unless I know that there is no chance you will use them against me, or sell me out to the public, who will fear what I am.” Kai closes his eyes then, and holds his hands up to the sides of his head. There is nothing but silence, no magic aura or lights or anything. But then Kai stops but mere moments later, and he holds his hand out up to his side, by his shoulder.

An air appears, like misty smoke, swirling like an orb above his hand. Lu Han gasps, knowing that this must be a display of Kai’s powers, powers that no one else has ever seen.

And then he is looking at his own face. The image is cut off from the shoulders down, and there is a foreign hand on one of his shoulders. Kai’s hand. The image of Lu Han suddenly gets angry and his face melts to ice as he suddenly reaches up and yanks the hand away. And then the image disappears; the smoke disperses.

Lu Han is speechless. Kai smirks once more, and it makes Lu Han want to punch him already, had he been more physically inclined to resolve his frustrations with violence.

Kai was showing him a re-enactment of the two but mere moments ago. “You see now?’ he says, face serious again. “I can show people the events of the past. It’s how this can work.” Kai takes another step towards him, but this time, he doesn’t leave space between them. Their torsos are barely touching, and Lu Han doesn’t move away. He has to crane his head ever so slightly to be able to meet Kai’s eyes. “I will have you,” Kai whispers, caging Lu Han’s soft gasp between their bodies. “And it will be your blackmail. If you submit to me with a memory that could ruin you, then I will trust you. Then I can trust you with my secrets, and help you all you want.”

“For your own protection?” Lu Han whispers. Lu Han cannot deny that it is a foolproof plan for Kai.

“Exactly that. Some things are just too important.”

“This sounds like the plot of my brother Tao’s old romance novels.”

“People in your kingdom still read?” Kai asks, and somehow the moment is still electric.

“No, he never read them. It’s just me. I’m the only educated person in the entire Kingdom, probably.” Kai rolls his eyes. He is clearly not interested in that piece of information, or where this is going. He nudges Lu Han’s crotch gently with his knee, soliciting a soft yelp from the shorter man, in inquiry of his answer to the condition.

But no matter how flustered and breathless Lu Han becomes, he can never switch his brain off. “And how can you be so sure that the locals would believe you? That you aren’t simply making the image up out of thin air?”

Kai ponders for a moment, as he draws his arms around Lu Han’s thin waist. His intuition tells him that somehow, in some way, he is going to get what he wants. “They could torture me until they found the truth, I suppose. In any case, I have the public’s approval in ways that you don’t. I could go to them with a sob story about how I had just discovered this power and was so scared”—Kai sneers—“that they would dub me a freak, and they would probably eat it all up. It is you that people deem weak, my prince. Unfortunate, but quite the truth. This would work out in my favour.”

Lu Han clenches his fists on either of Kai’s upper arms. Both in fury and in desire. “You would have yourself tortured just to ruin me?”

Kai looks dead into Lu Han’s eyes without any hint of play. “Some things are more important,” he repeats, voice lower and husky. “Some things are untouchable, and my abilities fall under that category.” His eyes fall down to Lu Han’s lips again, and Lu Han knows it’s a lost cause. There is simply too much to gain. He doesn’t know if, in his lust-ridden state, he is thinking of his research or the dull beat of desire in his lower abdomen. “What say you, your highness?” Kai whispers. Lu Han swallows hard. He doesn’t trust himself to speak, and as he sees Kai’s face loom ever closer to his own, he finds he can only nod weakly before their lips touch.  
Their gazes were electric but this burns. Lu Han relaxes completely when he feels Kai lick up into his mouth, breath hitching as his knees weaken against Kai’s hard, muscular body. The arms around him tighten until they’re all that’s holding him up, and he pretends for a moment that he’s soaring, and Kai’s arms are his kite strings, and without them he would float away. Kai’s breath is heavy and the scent mists into Lu Han’s mouth, and Lu Han licks it all up and nips back at Kai’s lips as they tug and dance around each other’s tongues.

Kai’s hands never stay still at his waist—he traces them all over Lu Han’s torso and back, as if there were no shirt between them, and Kai could feel every dip in his side and bump of his spine. Kai snakes a hand over Lu Han’s shoulder as he tastes the corner of his lip, and pulls the button at the top of Lu Han’s shirt without Lu Han even noticing, but for the sudden cold air at his chest. Another, and another, but it’s not fast enough so he drops his hand to the buckle of Lu Han’s belt instead.

It’s unfastened in moments—seconds, minutes? It’s hard to tell when time has stopped for them and it feels like nothing has passed, but then everything has all at once. Kai pushes his hand up and over Lu Han’s lower abdomen, tickling his belly button and the shiver makes Lu Han gasp once more and throw his head back, breaking the kiss. Lu Han licks his bottom lip to break the string of saliva between them. Kai follows the movement with his eyes, before raking his gaze over Lu Han’s collarbone instead, and Lu Han can see the intention so clearly in Kai’s eyes before he closes his own and waits for the contact.

Kai does not disappoint. He is not gentle either. Lu Han can hear his breathing get harsher, and then his shoulders are completely bare as Kai rips the buttons of his shirt open and lets it hang only by the arms as he crushes his lips to Lu Han’s neck and licks his way down to the collarbone, the centre of the clavicle, the point of the shoulder. His tongue travels down, this time to his nipple, as his fingers flutter up the length of his chest, the side of his neck, and hook into the corner of Lu Han’s mouth. Lu Han sucks on them hard, harder still when he feels a hand on his back moving down, grabbing the material and pulling it along, so that his trousers fall by his ankles. He steps out of them, knees shaking, hand grasping at Kai’s collar to expose some of his own skin.

Kai doesn’t take the bait, and instead meets Lu Han’s lips again, dragging the fingers around and out of his mouth. Lu Han makes a soft sound in the back of his throat when they leave his lips, and Kai swallows it with his own. The heated frenzy continues, soft and hard licks and nips, and all the while Kai trails his wet fingers down Lu Han’s sides and around to his back, and down, down until they’re pushing in and pulling him apart.

Lu Han breaks free from Kai’s lips for a moment, so he can bite his shoulder instead at the odd sensation of being stretched open. Kai continues to work him, and the sound of their heavy breathing permeates around the room. The silence is filled with harsh gasps and dull keens.

The lights from the oil lamps flicker around them, and Lu Han opens his eyes to see the bed before them. He rubs his hand against Kai’s crotch to get his attention, and whispers harshly when their eyes meet: “Bed”.

The room spins around him as he is scooped up, and Kai carries him there and pushes him down on his back, right on top of the bed covers. There’s a new sense of urgency now, of anticipation that it’s about to come to a close around them—this window of a situation that they have placed themselves in. No doubt someone is wondering what has happened to them, possibly even searching for them now. Any moment someone might burst in.

And it’s the thrill of that thought that Lu Han fears will uncage his heart. He rests back on the pillows and waits for Kai to pull his trousers off so he can join him. Their lips are joined again, and their bodies, and then Kai is inside him and pounding him open and screaming.

Lu Han tries to stay quiet; he ball up his fist and bites down on it, but it hurts and somehow feels exquisite at the same time. He feels it building up inside him, and knows he’ll explode if it doesn’t stop.

He doesn’t want it to stop.

He opens his eyes only a little, just enough to see Prince Kai with his eyes screwed shut and tense, gasping as he thrusts into him over and over again. There’s sweat dripping down his forehead, and Lu Han watches it fall down and he feels it when it drips down wet on his neck. His hair is completely disheveled and Lu Han fists his other hand through the locks. He can’t explain why, but a part of him that he doesn’t quite articulate to form a complete thought wants him as ruined as he is. It’s his first sexual experience and he didn’t think it would be like this.

And then Kai jolts with a gasp, and everything is hot and full and heavy until Lu Han finally closes his eyes and let’s himself be carried away in the prince’s arms.

 

 

“This did not quite go in the way that I thought it would,” Lu Han mumbles to himself as he picks off a grape from the vine he is holding. His rear hurts, the sunlight is streaming through the gap in the curtains and it so happens that that gap falls straight across his eyes. Lu Han flops back on the bed so he can avoid it, and watches how the line of light falls on his bare stomach instead.

Kai is already fully dressed, as he had to have been to accept the tray of breakfast brought in by the servants. Lu Han does not want to know how Kai has managed to hide his unannounced presence from the maids, but he is grateful because he does not quite know what to do with himself at the moment.

“I should hope that you weren’t thinking it would turn out how it did, no,” Kai agrees. He finishes fixing up his tie in the mirror, and then meets Lu Han’s eyes through the reflection. Kai quirks an eyebrow, and straightens his shoulders. He turns around to look at Lu Han.

“When you’re finished, I would like you to get dressed and meet me downstairs. I think a visit to your castle is in order, so you can tell me about your research along the way. You’ll show it to me once we get there. Yes?”

Lu Han nods without another word. He feels the flutter in his stomach at the thought that he will finally get the answers he has spent over half his life pondering and ripping his hair out over, but he tries not to look too excited. The pain still resides in his back, and the embarrassment and shame are starting to weigh in. He has never had to make such adult decisions in his life as he had the night before, and he can’t be sure if he can dance over them with confidence just yet. He’s quite terrified.

He plucks the last grape from its stem with an unsteady hand, and watches Kai’s back as it disappears behind the closing door.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Feedback/criticisms would be much appreciated! And yes, I did name an island after a spice.


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